"Førøyar" a Faroe Islands Travel Page by JLBG

The Faroe Islands are locally called Førøyar (Foroyar).

They are a group of islands between the Norwegian Sea and the north Atlantic Ocean, about one-half of the way from Iceland to Norway or Scotland. Their geographic coordinates are 62 00 N, 7 00 W

There are 18 islands in the group with a total land area of about 1,400 square kilometer (540 square miles). Only 6% can be cultivated.

The coastline is 1,117 km with cliffs along most of the coasts. The highest point is the Slaettaratindur (882 m)

The 18 islands are : Streymoy, Eysturoy, Kalsoy, Kunoy, Bordoy, Vidoy, Svínoy, Fugloy, Mykines, Vágar, Koltur, Hestur, Nólsoy, Sandoy, Skúvoy, Stóra Dímun, Lítla Dímun, Suduroy They are all inhabited but one.

Winters are mild, summers cool. The weather is usually overcast, foggy and windy. It can change in a few minutes. The Faroe pride themselves as the country that have the greatest number of sunny spells per day.

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The population of the Faroe Islands (Faroese) is largely descended from Viking settlers who arrived in the 9th century. The islands have been connected politically to Denmark since the 14th century. A high degree of self-government was attained in 1948.

This site will give you detailed informations on the cities and villages on the Faroe

The population is under 50,000, all Evangelical Lutheran. The capital, Torshavn (17,000) is situated on the island of Streymoy. Two other main cities of Streymoy are Kollafjard (1,000) and Vestmanna (1,300).

The language is the Faroese (derived from Old Norse) but Danish is widely spoken

The economy of the Faroe depends almost totally on fishing.

Then, why have I visited the Faroe ? This is the question asked by Elena, living in Torshavn. As far as I am concerned, I visited the Faroe because I felt is was too hot to go to Morocco !

?? !!

And because it is on the way to Iceland !

That's clear !

Actually, the full story was that we had planned to spend our summer holidays in Morocco with our two kids in a freshly bought Landrover equiped for camping. But May and June were very very hot at home and we thought ''As it is so hot, Iceland would be better than Morocco''.

The Smyril was to bring us from Scotland to the Faroe, leave us for three days and then take us to Iceland (click to visit). The return sailing to Scotland left us only a few hours in Torshavn, but we were lucky to watch an annual celebration (see travelogues).

Then, at first, it was not really ''on purpose'' that we went to the Faroe, but we did not regret it at all. Three days are not enough for the Faroe and I know that I want to go another time and visit this wonderful piece of land another time, more in depth, for it's landscapes and for the numerous birds.